The early volumes in our long-running shared-world anthology series largely centered around Manhattan, especially the parts of the Bowery and Lower East Side that became known as Jokertown. More recent entries, however, have been wider in scope, often international. But I've signed the contracts for another brand new, all-original Wild Cards mosaic novel, and I'm pleased to announce that with FORT FREAK the series is coming home again.

Manhattan’s 5th precinct has seen it all. Its historic precinct house on Elizabeth Street is the oldest in the New York City, and the cops and detectives based there are charged with keeping the peace in Chinatown, Little Italy, the Bowery, and parts of the Lower East Side.

In our alternate universe, the jokers – deformed, twisted victims of the alien virus known as the wild card – began moving into tenements of the Bowery and Lower East Side in the late 40s and early 50s, driving out the “nats” (naturals) and transforming the area into a colorful, dangerous, and often surreal slum district that soon became known as Jokertown. The 5th precinct became the Jokertown precinct. It did not take long before the city’s police began calling the precinct house “Fort Freak.”

Fort Freak and its cops and detectives have figured in many of our older Wild Cards stories, albeit usually in the background. But with this new volume, we're finally going to tell the stories of the brave men and women who walk the mean streets and strange alleys of Jokertown, and the unique and dangerous challenges that face.

FORT FREAK is the title, and Tor will once again be our publisher. The lineup of contributors for this one includes Cherie Priest, Melinda M. Snodgrass, David Anthony Durham, Stephen Leigh, Paul Cornell, Kevin Andrew Murphy, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Victor Milan, and John Jos. Miller. The featured characters will be a mix of old favorite and new creations.

This will be the twenty-first volume in the Wild Cards series, first launched in 1987.

Look for FORT FREAK in your favorite bookstore in late 2010 or early 2011. We've just started work on this one.